A BIG THANK YOU to Park County Voters
for PASSING THE CAP TAX!
The ballot question was approved with 6,761 votes (for)
to 4,906 (against) or 58-42 percent.
We can all look towards a bright future for Park County.
The 17 “Toughest Asked Questions”
presented to the Cap Tax Committee by Park County citizens
1. WHERE DID THIS CAP TAX INITIATIVE IDEA COME FROM AND WHY WILL IT BE ON THE NOVEMBER BALLOT?
Groups of many interested citizens in Cody, Powell and Meeteetse have been working on pool and library projects in their hometowns for more than several years. In 2005 the Park County Commissioners asked a special committee of volunteers to study the possibilities of relocating the Park County Library in Cody to the lower level of the Park County Complex (formerly, the Marathon Building) and analyze how to finance the project. Through that extensive outreach and public-listening process, more than 500 comments were gathered from the public regarding that building, the library and the funding. Ultimately, the committee settled on the one percent (of added sales tax) Capital Facilities Tax as the best way possible to pay for the project.
Through its countywide outreach efforts that committee began visiting with pool committee members in Powell and Meeteetse and in time a three community-three project coalition was formed. That combined group has now been working as the Citizens for Cap Tax II Committee for about one year. In August the three city/town councils in the county and the county commissioners all gave unanimous approval to resolutions agreeing that this cap tax proposal is worthy of the public’s consideration on the General Election ballot November 7, 2006.
2. WHY THESE THREE PROJECTS?
Because they all meet the following key criteria and challenges established for inclusion in this partnership and cap tax initiative: They will be used by a wide cross section of the population in their communities, they will contribute to the economic development of their communities, they improve the quality of life for residents, they have been earnestly developed in a fiscally conservative, taxpayer-conscious manner, and they have broad support in their communities.
3. IS THE TEMPORARY, ONE PERCENT CAP TAX REALLY THE ONLY AND BEST WAY TO FUND THESE PROJECTS?
In a word, yes.
Raising property taxes would be much tougher on homeowners, renters, seniors, businesses and, especially, agriculture and industry. Property taxes also do not generate any revenue from tourists and other visitors to the county.
The associated legal costs and interest expenses of issuing revenue bonds would only increase the total cost by millions of dollars.
Private fundraising would not be practical, given the total dollars needed for these projects and the remarkable number of other worthwhile causes and groups conducting ongoing fund drives in the county. Additionally, these private fundraising drives would necessarily be conducted for several or more years, while the costs of the projects would be increasing dramatically.
In the past, the added one cent of sales tax in Park County has raised an average of about $450,000 per month. Park County shares in the sales tax collected in the northern half of Yellowstone Park and additionally we benefit from tourist spending all year long. It is estimated that visitors to Park County actually contribute as much as one-third of the total sales tax collected. In this regard, many people are becoming aware that the cap tax is really the next best thing to the bed tax (which is collected almost exclusively from visitors). This cap tax will end when $13.2 million has been collected; additionally, the glitch in state law has been corrected that in the past had resulted in “overage” amounts being collected on the jail cap tax.
None of us like taxes and especially “higher” taxes. Yet, at the same time, most residents now seem to agree that the added one cent of sales tax levied during the nearly two years (2003-2004) to collect approximately $7.4 million for the new jail/law enforcement center in Cody was relatively painless.
4. WHY ARE THE CAP TAX PROJECTS BEING “BUNDLED” SO THAT THE PUBLIC CAN ONLY VOTE “YES” OR “NO” ON THE WHOLE PACKAGE OF THREE, INSTEAD OF ALLOWING SEPARATE VOTES ON THE NEW LIBRARY IN CODY, THE NEW POOL IN POWELL AND THE POOL RENOVATION PROJECT IN MEETEETSE?
Citizens for Cap Tax II Committee members felt strongly that to package the projects was a far more positive approach that would avoid setting the communities one against another in the minds of some voters or creating electoral chaos in which the projects could be forced to compete against one another. It was also thought this approach would be more fair for the project in lesser populated Meeteetse which, by itself, would have a most difficult time winning a countywide election.
Committee members are enthusiastic and proud of all three projects and feel it is so important to honestly proceed in an “all for one and one for all” spirit.
5. WHY IS THE POWELL COMMUNITY GETTING SO MUCH OF THE TOTAL MONEY RAISED?
Projections call for the Powell pool to receive $9 million, the library in Cody $2.2 million, and the Meeteetse pool, $2 million. Organizers did not set out to reach this revenue-sharing scenario. Rather, the appropriate projects were selected first and their costs were developed second.
Community leaders agreed that no other Powell project was as critically needed and broadly supported as a new pool to replace the 50-year-old pool that cannot be renovated and will be demolished when the new Powell High School opens.
Additionally, recall that virtually all of the $14 million cost of the new jail was spent in Cody. For this reason many people have concluded that it is fair for most of this cap tax to be spent in Powell.
The following points also are important in considering the “fairness” of spending $9 million in Powell: Citizens in Powell (and the rest of the county) contributed directly through their tax dollars to the $4 million the county paid to acquire the Marathon Building that will house the new library, thereby reducing the funding the library project needs from the cap tax. Similarly, taxpayers countywide will be contributing to the approximate $2.2 million in cash the county plans to appropriate to the remodeling project.
Through the process of paying annual property taxes, Powell citizens and others in the county contribute to the library’s annual budget in two other ways: through the library’s mill levy, and through the additional appropriation the county commissioners make to the library budget. Both of these revenue streams help to eliminate the library’s need for an operations and maintenance (O&M) endowment from the cap tax proceeds.
In Meeteetse, considerations of “reverse economies of scale” underlie that $2 million appropriation. That is, small towns, by their very size, would qualify for almost no spending if a strict population standard was applied. If this were the rule, Wapiti would not have a post office, Valley would not have a school, and Clark would not have a recreation/meeting building. At a similar time in their history (and population) Powell might not have had a college and Cody might not have had an airport.
As a society we generally support and treasure our smallest towns and do everything we can to perpetuate them.
6. ISN’T AN EXTRA ONE CENT OF SALES TAX PARTICULARLY HARD ON SENIORS AND THE POOR?
Higher taxes always impact people living on a fixed income, such as seniors, and other working people and young families who are struggling to make ends meet. But, significantly for all Wyoming residents, the Legislature has now eliminated the sales tax collected on groceries for at least the next two years. Depending on the locality statewide, this is a savings of 4-6 percent for seniors, working families, and all citizens.
At the same time, “a rising tide lifts all ships” and as these projects serve to better our three communities, they become more livable for everyone and attract new businesses that can in turn provide people with more chances to improve their economic situation. Libraries are free to everyone and the pools also will be affordable for all.
It’s also so important for our senior citizens to remember that when they were younger their elders were taxing themselves and seeing to it that public facilities like libraries and pools and schools and hospitals and a college were built to benefit young people and the rest of our community. The older generation has always taken care of the younger generation. One day, when Park County’s young people become adults they will be making these same kind of decisions, and hopefully with that same consideration always in mind.
7. WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS OF THIS CAP TAX ON AGRICULTURE, THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY, AND OTHER BUSINESSES?
The added one cent of sales tax is generally passed along either directly or indirectly by retail businesses to the consumer. Few businesses ever actually absorb increases in sales tax. Many business people support capital projects – such as a library, hospital, school or rec center – that dramatically improve the lifestyle of a community because they know these are also the important amenities that help to attract new business and thereby stimulate the overall economy.
The oil and gas industry has long made very clear its overwhelming preference to pay an increase in sales tax instead of an increase in property tax, since that industry already pays the large majority of all property tax collected in Park County.
Farmers and ranchers surely do struggle with the tough situation of having no control of the final price of the commodity they produce – be it crops or livestock – because national and international markets dictate those prices.
At the same time, qualified agricultural producers in Wyoming are exempt from paying state sales tax on certain purchases related to their operation. These include the purchase of farm implement equipment like tractors and combines; livestock such as cattle, sheep, horses and poultry; feed for livestock including seed and roots; fertilizer; and power and fuel used directly in agriculture. (Purchases of parts and supplies are not exempt from sales tax and certainly can be a considerable expense for farmers and ranchers.)
8. THESE PROJECTS SEEM TOO EXPENSIVE. HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THE PROJECTED COSTS?
Pools are indeed expensive to construct and operate. Less so, but still expensive, are facilities like libraries that receive heavy public use for extended hours, not to mention the demands of a facility that involves at its core the huge sheer weight of tons of book.
Committee members in Powell have traveled to observe first hand other similar aquatic centers in the region and have worked with national organizations on designs and costs. This work and study has been ongoing for several years. The $9 million total ($7M construction and $2M for an operations & maintenance O&M endowment fund) is comparable to the cost of the new pool in Cody five years ago ($8M construction and $2M Operations & Maintenance fund.)
Meeteetse pool organizers have been working for several years with contractors, engineers and architects on the renovation plans for that facility. Through that extensive process many efficiencies have been achieved and many cost-reducing changes were made in the plans. They also have actual figures for a number of past years to ensure that their O&M estimates are realistic.
The county commissioners appropriated $50,000 to develop a plan for use of the Park County Complex for the new county library. The firm retained, CTA Architects Engineers of Billings, designed and built this building in the late 1970s, so their staff has great familiarity with the building and its grounds. National library statistics show the 94 library renovation projects under way in the U.S. in 2005 (recalculated to factor in 2006 costs) averaged $176 per square foot. The Park County Library project is estimated to cost $162 per square foot.
Additionally, the library’s original estimated cost of $6.8 million was reduced by $1 million by paring back the project early in the process.
9. ISN’T THE INCLUSION OF OPERATIONS & MAINTENANCE ENDOWMENT FUNDS A BIT EXCESSIVE?
In these times, many municipal experts consider it now irresponsible to build public facilities such as pools without including an operations and maintenance (Q&M) fund in which the principal is invested permanently and the earned interest is used to offset expenses. Civic leaders in Cody reached this same conclusion in building the new pool at the rec center five years ago and many communities across the country have done the same.
Conversely, similar projects around the country that have tried to proceed without an O&M fund in place have been roundly criticized for “building a facility you’ll never be able to afford to operate.”
Simply put, if you can’t afford to have an O&M fund, maybe you can’t afford the project at all!
Leaders in Powell and Meeteetse also have plans to supplement their O&M funds with significant private fundraising in the years ahead.
It’s also important to note that the O&M funds will be vitally important in helping keep the pool user fees low to the public. Without these funds in place, the economics of running a pool would surely price their use out of reach for many people.
10. WOULDN’T THE LIBRARY REALLY HAVE BEEN BETTER DEVELOPED WITH NEW CONSTRUCTION OF A LIBRARY-SPECIFIC BUILDING?
Not in this case – even if the public were willing to spend more than twice as much for new construction.
The Park County Complex has proven to be a nearly perfect location. There is plenty of room, all on the lower level of the building, that will easily and beautifully remodel into a modern, accessible 21st century library. The setting at the northwest corner of the building faces the rec center, Riley Arena, Canal Park and Heart Mountain and will be developd nicely for plentiful, close parking and access. It’s also a quiet and scenic spot.
Still, some say that could have been achieved in a new structure east of the existing building in the open space along 16th Street. But that would be at a much greater expense – estimated in 2007 dollars at $13 million, compared to the $5.8 million to remodel.
Construction experts say remodeling – always cheaper than new construction – is decidedly more appropriate in these current times of constantly rising materials prices. Engineers have repeatedly said the library is “lucky” not to be facing the prospect of buying the large quantities of steel and concrete required for new construction.
Additionally, the citizens committee agrees with the county commissioners’ basic approach to that open space: preserve it for some future generation’s need.
11. BUT WHY POOLS? WHO NEEDS THEM?
Pools are great lifetime recreation facilities and can be used by people of all ages – toddlers just learning the feel of water, young children learning to be comfortable in water, older kids actually learning to swim, teens competing on swim teams, adults enjoying a lifetime sport, and seniors using pools for fun and to maintain and improve their health.
It’s important to note that drowning is the second leading cause of traumatic death of children in America. This should be a critical concern in high, dry regions like Wyoming, which have so many cold water reservoirs and lakes and swift moving streams and rivers. Yet we lack the hospitable climate and proximity to oceans that lead more naturally to learning to swim.
Lifeguards at the new pool in Cody comment often about the graphic differences they notice in groups of students and how Cody kids are such better swimmers and more comfortable around water than are those who visit from Red Lodge and other communities that do not have a strong, year-round swimming program. Statistics may not exist, but one can know that it doesn’t take too many years before comfort vs. discomfort in water translates into drowning deaths.
Pools also can contribute significantly to local economies by boosting tourism as well as hosting swim meets, senior and state Olympic games and other functions that attract visitors and spending.
Asking residents to drive from Meeteetse and Powell to utilize the pool in Cody is not practical, and would never result in large numbers of school-age children learning to swim year in and year out.
12. HASN’T THE INTERNET ALMOST MADE LIBRARIES OBSOLETE?
Not even close!
The Internet is a great tool everywhere it’s used – at home, in businesses, in the classroom and in libraries too.
But many people simply cannot afford or otherwise do not have the high speed hookup and advanced computer equipment that make use of the Internet practical. The new library will offer an abundance of sophisticated computer and Internet resources. The library staff also is always available to assist people in attaining the most out of their Internet searches. This access and guidance will be especially valuable to seniors, the less financially able and others who cannot afford a modern, high-speed computer at home.
Additionally, a library is about much more than the Internet – principally, it is about reading. And helping people develop a love of reading as a lifelong joy and tool.
Libraries – and the assistance and tutoring provided by librarians and the rest of the staff, in addition to the wide variety of reading and education programs offered – offer a sure defense against a problem that concerns so many parents today: that their kids spend too much time plugged into cable TV, video games, the Internet and cell phones.
The respite that is provided by a stimulating, yet quiet, modern library is more welcome and important than ever in today’s electronic world.
13. WHY DO WE NEED A LIBRARY OF THIS SIZE?
When the 15,000-square-foot library in Cody was built in 1965, the population of Cody was about 5,000. The 44,000-square foot library planned to be built in Cody 42 years later will serve a population of about 10,000 people with there being many more library users than that. State and national library experts, along with CTA Architects Engineers and Park County officials, have worked to ensure that the library planned is appropriate for the current times and is flexible and large enough to serve the community for yet another 30-50 years.
14. BUT DIDN’T WE ALREADY VOTE DOWN THESE KIND OF FACILITIES A FEW YEARS AGO?
In 1998 Park County voters overwhelmingly defeated (2,767 yes-7,494 no) a $32.8 million cap tax initiative. It would have built rec centers in both Cody and Powell, a convention center in Cody, and water projects in Meeteetse and Powell. The tax would have been levied for 6-8 years. The proposal lost in every precinct in the county but two, where it narrowly passed. The public made quite clear that the proposal was far too ambitious and expensive.
At that time, Park was one of only three counties (along with Washakie and Sublette) in the state not levying an added 1-2 cents of sales tax. Today, Park, Fremont and Sublette counties are the only Wyoming counties without an added 1-2 cents of sales tax in place. This situation has become controversial at the state level where legislators and the top five elected officials increasingly are requiring that counties must agree to tax themselves further before certain state funding will be forthcoming. This is exactly the thinking that has led the State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) in June 2006 to make its $2.25 million grant to the library project contingent on passage by the voters on November 7 of the proposed cap tax. If the cap tax fails, the SLIB grant fails.
15. IF POWELL WANTS A POOL, WHY CAN’T THAT COMMUNITY RAISE MONEY PRIVATELY LIKE CODY DID FIVE YEARS AGO FOR ITS NEW POOL?
Indeed, Powell people could raise funds privately for a pool, just as Cody folks could do for the new library in their community and Meeteetse area residents could rally around their pool renovation project.
But such fundraising would take at least five years and there’s no guarantee of success and in the meantime the costs of the projects increase – possibly outpacing the community’s efforts to raise the needed funds. (And please recall that the Cody pool was funded not so much from “private fundraising” as it was by the generosity of one entity – the Paul Stock Foundation – which paid for the entire pool and O&M fund.)
By joining together and supporting each other’s project on November 7, the three communities can collectively gain the amount of funding they need.
16. “POWELL NEVER SUPPORTS CODY, SO WHY SHOULD CODY SUPPORT POWELL NOW?” OR, AS EXPRESSED ELSEWHERE IN THE COUNTY, “SINCE CODY NEVER SUPPORTS POWELL, WHY SHOULD POWELL SUPPORT CODY NOW?”
We simply don’t believe that kind of negative, unproductive thinking is nearly as prevalent today as it might have been in the past. Even if it were allowed to continue it would only serve to drag down the three communities – along with Wapiti, Clark, Ralston, Garland and Frannie.
Better roads, overlapping business, education, entertainment and health care interests – along with the busy and connected world in which we live – have combined to largely eliminate the barriers between Park County communities and bring us all so much closer together.
By approving the proposed one cent cap tax on November 7 all Park County citizens will take a huge step toward eliminating these remaining unnecessary and outdated myths regarding inter-county rivalries.
As Powell Mayor Scott Mangold has said, approving the cap tax will result in “goodwill in the bank” for every community in our very special Park County.
17. WHAT WILL BE THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF INCREASING THE SALES TAX FROM 4% to 5%?
An individual would pay an extra 29 cents per day or $2 per week in sales tax.
READ the recent sales tax studies from the University of Wyoming (in pdf format) to learn more:
Vote YES on November 7!
